


Second Chances

by sarahyyy



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Old Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 17:32:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10949379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahyyy/pseuds/sarahyyy
Summary: There’s a text from his sister, and it reads:Did you hear about Yuri Plisetsky?Otabek doesn’t answer the text, doesn’t bother telling her that Yuri Plisetsky is in his guest bedroom right now, because that will only lead to more questions.





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> This was my submission for the Otayuri Zine _To Worlds Unknown_! Huge thanks to Med and Phee for organising this zine, it's been an A+++ experience.  <3 
> 
> Also all the hugs in the world for meimagino and asukajude for reading through this for me, and assuring me it wasn't trash. <333

There’s a text from his sister, and it reads: _Did you hear about Yuri Plisetsky?_

Otabek doesn’t answer the text, doesn’t bother telling her that Yuri Plisetsky is in his guest bedroom right now, because that will only lead to more questions. 

When Yuri had shown up fifteen minutes ago, asking if he could stay with Otabek for awhile, he hadn’t offered any explanation — not for his sudden presence at Otabek’s front door, and not for the equally sudden dissolution of their friendship eight years ago. 

Otabek had taken one look into Yuri’s eyes, and stepped aside to let him in, showing him to the guest bedroom quietly. 

There are, after all, some things that even eight years worth of time isn’t able to erase, and one of those things happen to be Otabek’s inability to say no to Yuri.

—

Yuri doesn’t talk to Otabek much the first three days he’s there. 

Otabek adapts to Yuri’s uncharacteristic reticence with equal silence. Yuri will talk to him when he wants to, _if_ he wants to. If nothing else, Otabek has learnt how to be very patient with Yuri.

What he does, instead, is to do his own research. 

Match Arena reports Yuri’s unexpected withdrawal from the Russian Nationals as Yuri “collapsing from stress”. NBC jokes that Yuri simply “got tired of winning”. 

Both explanations sound unlikely, but Yuri doesn’t say anything, and Otabek doesn’t ask. 

—

They stay in a conversation stalemate until Yuri lets himself into Otabek’s bedroom early one morning.

“Come to the rink with me,” Yuri says, and there is no room for negotiation in his tone, so all Otabek does is to just nod. 

They spend the entire commute to the rink in silence, and when Yuri doesn’t seem inclined to break the silence between them even when they get to the rink, Otabek just watches quietly as Yuri laces up his skates. 

When Yuri is done, he turns to Otabek, and says, “Watch me skate, okay?”

 _I’ve watched all these years_ , Otabek wants to say in lieu of the nod he gives Yuri. _I’ve always been watching._

Yuri waits until he’s in position in the middle of the rink before he speaks again, this time, a quiet, “The theme is second chances.”

Otabek doesn’t look away the entire time Yuri is skating. He watches, rapt, willing himself to blink a little less so he doesn’t miss anything. It’s always been like this, for him, since even before they became friends. No-one else’s skating ever draws out emotions from Otabek the way Yuri’s does, and it’s the same with this program — the longing Otabek feels is so visceral his knees almost buckle. 

When Yuri finishes, he doesn’t pause to take his breath, just makes his way over to Otabek. “Be my friend,” he blurts out, when he’s close enough. “Be my friend, again.”

 _The theme is second chances_ , Otabek thinks. 

_Oh._

—

Being friends with Yuri again is easy. 

They fall back into friendship like there wasn’t an eight year long gap between their last civil conversation, like they weren’t only friends for a year before it all fell apart. 

Otabek thinks about asking Yuri about it several times. He wants to know why Yuri stopped being his friend, wants to know what he did wrong, wants to know what he could’ve done differently, but he doesn’t. He’s never forced Yuri to telling him things Yuri doesn’t want to share with him, and he’s not about to start now. 

He settles, instead, with catching up on all the things in Yuri’s life he’s missed the past eight years, and it’s good like this, too, falling back into that stage in life when they used to do everything together. 

—

It comes to a head one morning, when Yuri decides to show Otabek the free skate he’d prepared for the season.

Otabek expects to be surprised; he always is with Yuri’s programs, but not like this, not with Yuri finishing off his skate by pulling Otabek close, and kissing him on the lips almost desperately, like he’ll never get the chance to again.

Otabek’s head is spinning as he struggles to piece everything together. “Eight years ago, when I started dating Mila, you were-”

“Jealous,” Yuri finishes, a quiet confession. “I was jealous, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I lost out on eight years of friendship with you, and it was the worst mistake of my life.”

Otabek swallows. “Eight years, and still?”

Yuri closes his eyes. “Eight years, and still,” he confirms, and this is another confession too. “Maybe more. I can’t say for sure.”

The pressure of Yuri’s lips on his still lingers. 

His heart is beating too quickly. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“How could I say anything? What could I even say?” Yuri breathes out. “I bet it would’ve come off real well if I’d told you to not date one of my best friends because I was in love with you.”

Otabek's heart seizes at _‘in love with you’_. “Yuri, I-”

Yuri shakes his head. “Can we not talk about this anymore?” he asks quietly, and Otabek can't find it in himself to deny him.

They make their way back home in silence.

—

Yuri is gone the next morning, without so much as a goodbye. 

—

Otabek makes his way to Yuri’s training rink in St. Petersburg a week later. 

The fact that Yuri doesn’t bolt at the sight of him is a good sign, and the fact that his eyes are wet after Otabek wordlessly proceeds to replicate his free skate is a better one still.

“What do you think?” 

“I think retirement has made you sloppy,” Yuri says, but there's no bite to it, and Otabek dutifully doesn't point out how Yuri's voice shakes.

He settles instead for trying to lighten the mood. “Does that change your mind about me?” he asks, grinning.

Yuri's eyes narrow sharply. “No,” he snaps. “ _Nothing_ changes my mind about you. It's been eight years and I _still_ -” He cuts himself off, and then moves to skate away from Otabek.

Otabek catches him by the arm and pulls him in close, tugging him in so they're closely entwined. “Don't run away from me this time. Don’t push me away again,” he says. And then, quietly, because this is what he flew here to say, this is what Yuri has waited eight years for Otabek to catch up to and realize also, “I love you.”

Yuri sags against him. “You took so long,” he murmurs, head tucked in the crook of Otabek’s neck.

“I had to be sure,” Otabek tells him, and then presses his lips to Yuri's hairline. 

“But you’re sure now?” Yuri asks, pulling away slightly to look him in the eye.

Otabek shows him just how sure, with a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> ETA: Now with [bonus headcanons](http://sarah-yyy.tumblr.com/post/160858329028/ur-last-fic-had-a-happy-ending-and-somehow-it)!
> 
> As usual, I am [here on Tumblr](http://sarah-yyy.tumblr.com/) if you want to come cry about Otabek to me.


End file.
